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Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

Washington D.C.

A Torn City Begins to Mend

In the decade after World-War II, the growth of the federal government made the District of Columbia one of the most attractive job markets for African Americans in the South. As DC's African American community grew, it developed some of the nation's most vibrant middle class black neighborhoods. Black-owned businesses flourished along the H Street, NE, and along 14th Street in Northwest Washington.

The 1968 riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King devastated large portions of these commercial districts. The H Street corridor, with its rows of vacant and boarded-up shops, still bears the scars from three days of arson and looting. The population of DC declined by about 50,000 from 1960 to 1970, and the crack epidemic of the mid-1980s caused many middle-class blacks and whites to move in search of safer neighborhoods and schools.

By the mid-1990s, however, the trends began to reverse. The high tech boom reenergized DC's private sector. A decade-long construction boom transformed the inner city, and the continuing expansion of the Metro made the city more accessible to the large suburban population. The once-crumbling Union Station was restored and transformed into a major shopping mall; the new MCI Sports arena and DC Convention Center gave a further boost to the city's already-considerable tourism industry. Neighborhoods like Adams Morgan and the 14th Street corridor-among the city's poorest in the 1970s-grew into popular entertainment and restaurant districts.

But the transformation of DC has not benefited everyone. Rapid gentrification, economic displacement, and increased property tax assessments have put pressure on many of the city's lower-income residents. Average rent for apartments is about twice what a low-income family can afford.